Perfect send-off for Collegiate

St Matthew's Collegiate will be without nine of this season's winning Wellington premier division secondary schoolgirls hockey side in 2012.

And that's why coach Kim Henson labelled their thrilling 2-1 grand final win over arch rivals Wairarapa College at Clareville last Friday night as special.

"We really wanted to give those girls a big send-off ... most of them have been together a while now and it's nice to know they've gone out on a high note," Henson said.

The final was locked up 1-1 at the end of ordinary time - Megan Hutt scoring first for Wairarapa College and Jenna Anderson replying for St Matthew's - and St Matthew's didn't manage the crucial goal until late in the second half of extra time, the rules for which required playing numbers to be reduced to nine after three minutes and seven after six minutes.

And they each had seven players on the field when Charlotte Warren came up with the winner, a goal which also allowed St Matthew's to retain the Dunce Cup, the trophy played for annually between the two schools.

Henson was not the least surprised at the close finish with all previous clashes this season having gone right to the wire, including their Federation Cup national tournament semifinal at Albany, which was eventually won by Wairarapa College 2-1. They went on to win the final there and St Matthew's finished just two places behind them.

"It was always going to be a cliff hanger, we didn't expect anything else," Henson said. "They are two very good sides, a real credit to Wairarapa hockey."

Winning the Wellington championship was nothing unusual for St Matthew's, though, as they have now managed that feat in four of the last five years.

Interestingly, the 2007 final with Wairarapa College was also held at Clareville and was also won by St Matthew's in extra time. And there, too, it was a Charlotte who registered the goal which counted most, in that case Charlotte Meo.

Coach Henson admits losing so many of this year's side will be a test of St Matthew's playing resources next season but he believes there are enough talented youngsters in their lower graded teams to fill the void.

"Obviously there will be some rebuilding to do but that's always going to happen from time to time, isn't it," he said.

The Wairarapa College boys first XI almost made it a notable double for their province when they lost 6-5 on a penalty shootout to Wellington College in the grand final of their Wellington premier division competition, played at the National Hockey Stadium. The two sides were level at 1-1 at the end of ordinary time and also at the end of extra time.

There was better news for Kuranui College first XI boys coached by Lindsay Brazendale and Donald Yee. They scored a 3-2 win over Hutt International 2 in the Wellington premier threee grand final, and will now play in premier two in 2012.

It was an excellent effort from Kuranui who have a squad of just 13 players, only six of whom were part of last year's side. They won both the Wellington reserve three and reserve two grades then and early this season took out the reserve one grade to earn promotion to premier three.

Since 2010 the Kuranui first XI boys squad have won 29 Wellington competition matches, drawn two and lost just one.

Meanwhile, the Kuranui girls first XI drew 1-1 with Queen Margaret in their premier two decider.